Delhi, Mumbai airports to share their records with CAG

The private operators of the Delhi and Mumbai airport will have to share their financial records with the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) and a failure to do so will be viewed as a breach of the operation, management and development agreement (OMDA) or master plan, the government has said.

The private operators of the Delhi and Mumbai airport will have to share their financial records with the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) and a failure to do so will be viewed as a breach of the operation, management and development agreement (OMDA) or master plan, the government has said.

“A breach of OMDA can have serious implications including cancellation of the agreement,” said an official, who did not wish to be named.

This follows a refusal by GMR-led Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) and GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) to share their books with the national auditor.

“The CAG will conduct an audit of Airports Authority of India (AAI). Since AAI has a 26% stake in both DIAL and MIAL and earns major chunk of revenue from them, CAG will look into the books of these two companies as well,” said another official. Both private operators have refused to share their records with CAG.

Aviation ministry, in an October 19 letter, asked AAI to direct DIAL and MIAL that the private airport operators were not the auditee. “It is AAI which is the auditee. OMDA explicitly provides for AAI to nominate its representative for verification of records. Non-compliance with provision of clause 11.3 of OMDA may liable to be construed as substantive breach of the terms and conditions of OMDA,” the ministry said in the letter.

“It has been decided to nominate CAG as a representative of AAI,” the official said.

While DIAL and MIAL did not respond to mail sent by HT on Monday, a DIAL spokesperson had told HT on Sunday that, “Projects developed under a private-public-partnership programme do not come under the purview of the CAG.”